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Date Posted: 08:50:51 09/23/12 Sun
Author: taurus2124
Author Host/IP: CPE-58-161-96-37.nsw.bigpond.net.au / 58.161.96.37
Subject: Chapter 264
In reply to: taurus2124 's message, "The Rising Dragons continued ..." on 08:43:38 09/23/12 Sun

Chapter 264

Madeline glanced at her GPS. She was not far away and knew she would be at her destination within twenty minutes.

It was not the usual protocol to have a leader of one of the other sections make a visit to Center unless they were summoned there by Mr. Jones himself. However, drastic times required drastic measures and Madeline was here to see the supreme leader of all the sections to sort out what exactly George had been relaying to him about the Rising Dragons’ mission, their operatives Michael and Nikita and in particular Section One itself. Operations and Madeline needed to get to the bottom of George’s ulterior interests in the triad as well as setting the record straight as far as Section One stood in regard to the mission for Mr. Jones. They were flying blind as to what Intel he had been passing on and what, if any interference, he had instigated in the capturing of Sun Yee Lok and his cohorts.

Madeline’s task was to make sure that George did not jeopardise the next phase of the Rising Dragons’ mission in any way to further his own agenda. It was agreed that she be the designated go-between as she could keep a more level head rather than Operations. He could easily have flown off the handle at the mention of his nemesis George. There was no telling what he would have done if there had been any interference so far by Oversight to usurp command away from Section One because of some ulterior motive by the self serving megalomaniac that was their immediate leader. George’s delusions of grandeur and lust for power knew no boundaries in his rivalry against Paul. Therefore, it was imperative that she got a heads up on the proceedings as well as set Mr. Jones on the right path as to how Section One was handling the Rising Dragons’ mission and Nikita and Michael’s continued involvement.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Everything within Center was stark … the walls … the hallways, even the operatives. Madeline made her way up one such austere hallway and walked up to a barren desk behind which sat Michelle, the young woman receptionist. On hearing the footsteps stop, she looked up to see Section One’s Head Strategist standing in front of her desk.

She addressed her professionally and with a little warmth in her voice. “Good morning.”

However, Madeline’s reply was less than cordial. “Is he in?”

“He’ll be a minute. Have a seat,” Michelle intonated looking over to where there was seating with her eyes.

Madeline ignored her statement and merely continued to stand for a moment, before leaning over Michelle’s desk to talk to her. She was not used to being kept waiting and her patience was running thin. “How is Mr. Jones doing this morning?”

Hearing the question, Michelle looked up at her slowly, which riled Madeline even more. The receptionist had a slight, secretive smile on her face as if all the tea in China wouldn’t persuade her to divulge any Intel about the elusive Mr. Jones. “You know that I can’t tell you that.”

A little put out by the change in power roles Madeline changed her facial features and gave the girl a wry smile. “Well what can you tell me?”

Averting her gaze from Section One’s doyen, Michelle glanced down at a small handheld LED device before her, which read … “Send Madeline in”. Looking back at the commanding, elegantly dressed woman waiting to see Mr. Jones she relayed his instructions with the hint of a reserved smile. “He’s ready to see you.”

Madeline nodded with a sombre face at the receptionist’s words and made her way through the door that led into the office to join Mr. Jones.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The head of Center sat behind his stark white desk in a grey suit, hands clasped before him on the top waiting for his visitor. As Madeline entered the two figures eyed each other off warily before a slight smile appeared on Mr. Jones’ lips. She in turn gave nothing away as to her mindset and stood with her hands behind her back. The tension in the air could have been cut with a knife but Mr. Jones initiated the first conversation. He addressed Section One’s second in command in a dry, humourless manner. “Hello, Madeline. I’ve been expecting you.”

“Mr. Jones.”

“To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit to Center?” He paused, waiting for an answer but when none was forthcoming he continued. “Is this a personal matter or business call?”

“A bit of both,” she replied looking him in the eye with an enigmatic smile.

“I see … Do we have something to discuss then?”

“As a matter of fact we do.”

However, Mr. Jones ignored her statement and instead gestured towards a leather winged chair with his hand. “Please take a seat I’ll just inform Michelle that we will be requiring refreshments.” He gave Madeline a surreptitious look and quickly summed up her demeanour adding knowingly, “We may be here for a while.”

Depressing his intercom Mr. Jones made his requests succinctly. “Michelle … we require tea for two and some finger sandwiches A.S.A.P.”

“Very good sir. Will that be all?”

“I’ll let you know if I have any further requirements.”

“Certainly. I won’t be long.”

“Thank you,” he relied then looked up at Madeline who was now sitting in the armed chair facing his desk. She’d watched the leader of all the Sections clandestinely as he’d spoken with Michelle but raised her eyes when he next spoke to her.

“So Madeline, you were saying that we had something to discuss. Please enlighten me. You have my undivided attention,” he announced sitting back in his office chair while observing Section’s strategist beneath guarded eyes. He was intrigued as to why she was here and not Operations.

“I would like to debrief actually. I thought you may like a woman’s perspective on how we are doing things at Section One Mr. Jones.”

“About the Rising Dragons’ mission no doubt.” He studied her face but Madeline gave nothing away as to what she may be thinking.

She gave him a wry smile and a nod of her head, “And other things.”

Mr. Jones raised an eyebrow at her open-ended statement and elucidated. “Yes … I would like that very much ... we don’t meet nearly enough Madeline.”

“Very true.”

He then literally threw the cat amongst the pigeons, which had Madeline seeing red with his next innocuous statement. “George informed me that you may have a situation at One that requires my attention.”

“Is that so? What else has he informed you of … without our knowledge?” was her telling rejoinder.

“The usual … a bit of this and a bit of that,” he replied in an elusive voice.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It took all Madeline’s resole to bite her tongue at his evasive remark. Obviously it was true then; George had been discussing Section Ones’ business. Section’s head strategist was seething to think that Mr Jones had been given Intel about them without their approval or prior knowledge. Madeline needed to find out what Intel George had passed on and where they stood in regards to the Rising Dragons’ mission. It was obvious that damage control with Mr. Jones may be crucial to offset any problems George may have caused them or may cause them in fulfilling the mission and in capturing Sun Yee Lok.

Madeline was forthright in her reply to Center’s matriarch. “Please tell sir … I am most interested to hear George’s stance on how Section One is conducting the Rising Dragons’ mission. What has he been telling you?”

The smile on her lips failed to reach her eyes and Mr. Jones knew immediately that not all was right between Oversight and Section One. He gave Madeline a shrewd glance realising that George may indeed have been interfering in the mission for some personal one-upmanship.

He knew that Paul and George didn’t always see eye to eye on certain things when he had called all the leaders together on other occasions. There certainly was hostility between the two combatants but it undoubtedly kept Section One and Oversight on their toes and made for better results all round on missions. However, judging by Madeline’s forced demeanour, he was aware that One was in the dark as far as George was concerned. Obviously there had been some discrepancies in regard to the Rising Dragons’ mission and he was extremely interested to see where each differed. But first things first … he would like to get Madeline’s opinion on his statement about George and go from there.

Leaning back in his chair he crossed his hands on the desk in front of him and asked, “So tell me … is the situation at One under control?”

Madeline gave the appearance that his question was superfluous. “I don’t know what George has been saying, but the situation he is referring to was a storm in a teacup. It was nothing significant for him to have bothered you about.”

This will be interesting, he thought. “George said you had a breach. Are you telling me he was wrong?”

“Categorically. There was never a breach.”

Mr. Jones rubbed his chin deep in thought. “I see … he seemed quite adamant though.” He looked at her closely to see if Madeline flinched at his words. She didn’t.

“There was no breach in security Mr. Jones … just a malfunction that was quickly rectified by Mr. Birkoff to Operations’ and my satisfaction.”

“That’s good news.” He tried to make light of the situation and with humour in his voice he stated, “Obviously George jumped the gun as usual.”

“He tends to do that a lot if I’m not mistaken,” was Madeline’s tacit reply hoping that by doing so she would have planted a seed of doubt about the validity of anything George had said recently about the running of Section One, Michael and Nikita or the Rising Dragons’ mission for that matter.

He ignored her telling barb and continued. “Tell me how your two recovering operatives are. They are on downtime I believe.”

“Yes they are.”

“George informs me that there is a cloud over their recovery and hence has instigated his own plans for Oversight to intervene to bring the Rising Dragons’ leader to heel should they not be fit to continue on the mission.”

“Really? I don’t know why he would infer any such thing. I can assure you that both Michael and Nikita are doing exceptionally well and will be returning to Section sooner rather than later to take up where they left off with capturing the Rising Dragons’ hierarchy. Their rehabilitation has been quicker than anticipated within the two weeks allocated for their down time.”

“I see.”

“Sir … You mentioned that George has initiated plans of his own. May I ask … what those plans are?” Madeline asked nonchalantly in inquisitiveness rather than interest.

“Hmm … I believe he said he has an informant chasing up leads.”

Piqued by his information Madeline asked out of curiosity, “And who might that be? It wouldn’t be Mick Schtoppel by any chance?”

“Who?”

“He freelances,” she replied to the intonation in his voice for more information.

Mr. Jones was happy with her explanation and replied accordingly. “No … George always uses an informant called Jurgen. They seem to have an excellent working relationship. Has Section One used his services too?”

Madeline took note of George’s contact whom Operations had discounted in favour of Schtoppel. “On occasion, but his reports were not always accurate, I’m afraid,” Madeline added to infer that whatever he may have told George about the Rising Dragons or Sun Yee Lok may not be able to be verified.

However, that was a telling piece on information they could use. Mick Schtoppel could work to their advantage. Operations had made the right call. Madeline was confident that George’s informant was more removed from having direct data on the triad than would Mick, but it would be interesting to check him out just in case. Stopping information at the source could be arranged if needs be if George’s informant knew too much, she thought.

Piqued by this update Madeline asked interestingly, “Has Jurgen managed to find any new Intel for George that we don’t know about?”

However, before he could elaborate further, there was a knock on the door and Michelle entered with their refreshments. Once she had finished serving Mr. Jones and Madeline their tea and snacks she discretely left the two leaders to their discussion.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Play on text from … ATWAS

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